London Underground's attempt to undermine collective bargaining, by launching what it laughably calls a "listening exercise", which promotes its latest offer on pay and conditions to staff on an individual basis, rather than through our unions, deserves to be treated with utter contempt.
Leaflets trumpeting the offer have already landed in our workplaces, and there are suggestions that managers will be seeking friendly chats with individual members of staff about the issue.
Our pay, terms, and conditions are not individual matters. They are collective issues, which affect us all, and which we will bargain for and resolve collectively, through our unions. LU's attempt to circumvent that collective bargaining is an outrageous provocation that needs a swift and serious response.
The offer they're touting is the same one we rejected months ago, and struck against (twice). If it wants a "listening exercise", we've made ourselves clear. We shut down the Tube. The problem is, they're not listening.
We need to make them listen. The strike on the DLR should inspire us to launch further across TfL, including reinstating industrial action in our ongoing disputes with LU.
Our pay claim is clear: a 32-hour week for all grades, a pay settlement in line with increases in living costs, and the extension of staff privileges, such as travel passes, to contractors and outsourced workers. Let's remind our bosses that, on pay, terms, and conditions, they speak to us together, or not at all.
